Systems and methods are provided for simulating rev-matching in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), e.g., HEVs having a two motor hybrid system transmission. In particular, increased engine response is provided while downshifting during acceleration. The two-motor hybrid system transmission may include an electronic control unit that controls the speed of the engine to simulate gears, and increases the speed of the engine responsive to a driver using the gear selector to shift from one of the simulated gears to a lower one of the simulated gears, thereby providing the desired rev-matching experience.

A control apparatus for a vehicle is configured to be applied to a hybrid vehicle that includes an electric motor and an engine that are coupled to a drive wheel. The control apparatus includes a transmission mechanism and a torque processor. The transmission mechanism is to be provided between the engine and the drive wheel, and configured to switch between a plurality of fixed gear ratios to perform a shift. The torque processor is configured to temporarily decrease a torque of the electric motor and a torque of the engine upon execution of an upshift of the transmission mechanism, and configured to decrease, before the execution of the upshift of the transmission mechanism, a proportion of the torque of the electric motor to a drive wheel torque of the drive wheel as compared with a recent proportion of the torque of the electric motor to the drive wheel torque.

A system of selecting a transmission manual mode entry gear during transient driving conditions of an automobile vehicle includes a transmission in an automobile vehicle. An engine is connected to the transmission. A torque converter is connected to the transmission, and a differential provides drive output. A controller is in communication with the engine and the transmission. A shift device is in communication with the controller allowing manual selection by an operator of the automobile vehicle between a Park, a Reverse, a Neutral, a Drive and a Low or Manual (PRNDL) operating modes. A predicted gear is frozen close to a real gear at a time of entrance into the Manual mode.

Methods and systems are provided for improving torque control of a vehicle that includes simulated shifting of a step gear ratio transmission. In one example, a propulsive effort request is gradually incrementally increased or decreased to provide a smooth torque transition, thereby providing a smoother vehicle speed change and improve vehicle drivability.

A vehicle includes an engine, a continuously variable transmission, and a controller. The controller, responsive to a request to manually shift the continuously variable transmission and the engine being on, operates the continuously variable transmission atone of a predetermined number of discrete ratios such that a speed of the engine changes by at least a predetermined amount.

A transmission control device of a continuously variable transmission provided in a vehicle includes a continuously variable transmission and a transmission controller. When the pseudo stepped transmission mode is selected, the transmission controller is configured to perform pseudo stepped upshift which repeats a transmission ratio suppression phase in which changes in the transmission ratio of the continuously variable transmission are suppressed, and an upshift phase in which the transmission ratio of the continuously variable transmission is upshifted. When performing the pseudo stepped upshift, the transmission controller is configured to determine an acceleration intention based on an accelerator opening degree and a vehicle speed, and to set upshift time required to pass through the upshift phase so that the larger the acceleration intention, the shorter the upshift time, and so that, for the same accelerator opening degree, the higher the vehicle speed, the shorter the upshift time.

In a hybrid vehicle, when the engine is started and caused to make a transition from a stopped state into an operating state, the control device performs an operation control of the rotary machine and an output control of the engine to increase the rotation speed of the engine so that the rotation speed reaches a target rotation speed after the transition of the engine into the operating state, determined by the shifting control, and during increasing the rotation speed, when suppression conditions further including a condition that a vehicle speed is equal to or lower than a predetermined vehicle speed, and a condition that an output request amount by a driver is smaller than a predetermined output request amount, are satisfied, the control device suppresses an increase rate of the rotation speed until a predetermined time elapses from an initiation of starting of the engine as compared with when the suppression conditions are not satisfied.

A continuously variable transmission (2) has a torque convertor (3) having a lock-up clutch (30) and a continuously variable transmission mechanism (5). A control unit (10) has a shift control unit (10C) configured to be able to perform a pseudo stepwise up-shift control that varies a transmission ratio of the continuously variable transmission mechanism (5) stepwise, a lock-up control unit (10A) configured to control an engagement state of the lock-up clutch (30), and a torque control command unit (10D) configured to perform a torque-down control of a driving source (1). When the engagement control of the lock-up clutch (30) and the pseudo stepwise up-shift control are performed at the same time, the torque control command unit (10D) configured to perform the torque-down control with a greater torque reduction amount.

A shift control device has stepless and stepped shift modes in which a transmission gear ratio of a continuously variable transmission is controlled in stepless and stepwise fashions, respectively, and includes a shift controller that switches the shift mode to the stepless shift mode by executing shift control of the transmission if an accelerator-pedal operated amount falls below a switch threshold during the stepped shift mode, a minimum value detector that detects an operated-amount minimum value in a shift process of switching the shift mode to the stepless shift mode, and an upper-limit-value setting unit that sets an upper limit value for engine rotational acceleration based on a difference between the operated amount and the minimum value in the shift process. In the shift process, the shift controller limits the rotational acceleration to the upper limit value or lower by limiting a shift rate when the transmission is downshifted.

A vehicle failure-factor specifying apparatus includes (a) a peculiarity-presence determining portion configured to determine, based on a pre-failure driving state in a stage prior to occurrence of a certain failure in a vehicle, whether a peculiarity was present or absent in the pre-failure driving state, and (b) a failure-causing-driving state specifying portion configured, when the peculiarity was present in the pre-failure driving state, to determine whether the peculiarity present in the pre-failure driving state of the vehicle is substantially identical with a peculiarity in the pre-failure driving state of other vehicles. The peculiarity-presence determining portion determines whether the peculiarity was present or absent in the pre-failure driving state of the vehicle, depending on whether a frequency distribution of the pre-failure driving state of the vehicle is deviated from a frequency distribution of a non-failure driving state of a plurality of vehicles including the other vehicles in a non-failure case.